The Council of Orange was an outgrowth of
the controversy between Augustine and Pelagius. This controversy
had to do with degree to which a human being is responsible
for his or her own salvation, and the role of the grace of God
in bringing about salvation. The Pelagians held that human beings
are born in a state of innocence, i.e., that there is no such
thing as a sinful nature or original sin.

As a result of this view, they held that
a state of sinless perfection was achievable in this life. The
Council of Orange dealt with the Semi-Pelagian doctrine that
the human race, though fallen and possessed of a sinful nature,
is still "good" enough to able to lay hold of the
grace of God through an act of unredeemed human will. As you
read the Canons of the Council of Orange, you will be able to
see where John Calvin derived his views of the total depravity
of the human race.

THE CANONS
OF THE COUNCIL OF ORANGE (529 AD)

CANON 1. If anyone denies that it
is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was "changed
for the worse" through the offense of Adam's sin, but believes
that the freedom of the soul remains unimpaired and that only
the body is subject to corruption, he is deceived by the error
of Pelagius and contradicts the scripture which says, "The
soul that sins shall die" (Ezek. 18:20); and, "Do
you not know that if you yield yourselves to anyone as obedient
slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey?" (Rom.
6:126); and, "For whatever overcomes a man, to that he
is enslaved" (2 Pet. 2:19).

CANON 2. If anyone asserts that Adam's
sin affected him alone and not his descendants also, or at least
if he declares that it is only the death of the body which is
the punishment for sin, and not also that sin, which is the
death of the soul, passed through one man to the whole human
race, he does injustice to God and contradicts the Apostle,
who says, "Therefore as sin came into the world through
one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men
because all men sinned" (Rom. 5:12).

CANON 3. If anyone says that the grace
of God can be conferred as a result of human prayer, but that
it is not grace itself which makes us pray to God, he contradicts
the prophet Isaiah, or the Apostle who says the same thing,
"I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have
shown myself to those who did not ask for me" (Rom 10:20,
quoting Isa. 65:1).

CANON 4. If anyone maintains that
God awaits our will to be cleansed from sin, but does not confess
that even our will to be cleansed comes to us through the infusion
and working of the Holy Spirit, he resists the Holy Spirit himself
who says through Solomon, "The will is prepared by the
Lord" (Prov. 8:35, LXX), and the salutary word of the Apostle,
"For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for
his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

CANON 5. If anyone says that not only
the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire
for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly
and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism - if anyone says
that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace,
that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our
will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness
to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching
of the Apostles, for blessed Paul says, "And I am sure
that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion
at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not
your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). For
those who state that the faith by which we believe in God is
natural make all who are separated from the Church of Christ
by definition in some measure believers.

CANON 6. If anyone says that God has
mercy upon us when, apart from his grace, we believe, will,
desire, strive, labor, pray, watch, study, seek, ask, or knock,
but does not confess that it is by the infusion and inspiration
of the Holy Spirit within us that we have the faith, the will,
or the strength to do all these things as we ought; or if anyone
makes the assistance of grace depend on the humility or obedience
of man and does not agree that it is a gift of grace itself
that we are obedient and humble, he contradicts the Apostle
who says, "What have you that you did not receive?"
(1 Cor. 4:7), and, "But by the grace of God I am what I
am" (1 Cor. 15:10).

CANON 7. If anyone affirms that we
can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates
to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or
that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the
gospel through our natural powers without the illumination and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent
to and believe in the truth, he is led astray by a heretical
spirit, and does not understand the voice of God who says in
the Gospel, "For apart from me you can do nothing"
(John 15:5), and the word of the Apostle, "Not that we
are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from
us; our competence is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5).

CANON 8. If anyone maintains that
some are able to come to the grace of baptism by mercy but others
through free will, which has manifestly been corrupted in all
those who have been born after the transgression of the first
man, it is proof that he has no place in the true faith. For
he denies that the free will of all men has been weakened through
the sin of the first man, or at least holds that it has been
affected in such a way that they have still the ability to seek
the mystery of eternal salvation by themselves without the revelation
of God. The Lord himself shows how contradictory this is by
declaring that no one is able to come to him "unless the
Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44), as he also says
to Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in
heaven" (Matt. 16:17), and as the Apostle says, "No
one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit"
(1 Cor. 12:3).

CANON 9. Concerning the succor of
God. It is a mark of divine favor when we are of a right purpose
and keep our feet from hypocrisy and unrighteousness; for as
often as we do good, God is at work in us and with us, in order
that we may do so.

CANON 10. Concerning the succor of
God. The succor of God is to be ever sought by the regenerate
and converted also, so that they may be able to come to a successful
end or persevere in good works.

CANON 11. Concerning the duty to pray.
None would make any true prayer to the Lord had he not received
from him the object of his prayer, as it is written, "Of
thy own have we given thee" (1 Chron. 29:14).

CANON 12. Of what sort we are whom
God loves. God loves us for what we shall be by his gift, and
not by our own deserving.

CANON 13. Concerning the restoration
of free will. The freedom of will that was destroyed in the
first man can be restored only by the grace of baptism, for
what is lost can be returned only by the one who was able to
give it. Hence the Truth itself declares: "So if the Son
makes you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).

CANON 14. No mean wretch is freed
from his sorrowful state, however great it may be, save the
one who is anticipated by the mercy of God, as the Psalmist
says, "Let thy compassion come speedily to meet us"
(Ps. 79:8), and again, "My God in his steadfast love will
meet me" (Ps. 59:10).

CANON 15. Adam was changed, but for
the worse, through his own iniquity from what God made him.
Through the grace of God the believer is changed, but for the
better, from what his iniquity has done for him. The one, therefore,
was the change brought about by the first sinner; the other,
according to the Psalmist, is the change of the right hand of
the Most High (Ps. 77:10).

CANON 16. No man shall be honored
by his seeming attainment, as though it were not a gift, or
suppose that he has received it because a missive from without
stated it in writing or in speech. For the Apostle speaks thus,
"For if justification were through the law, then Christ
died to no purpose" (Gal. 2:21); and "When he ascended
on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men"
(Eph. 4:8, quoting Ps. 68:18). It is from this source that any
man has what he does; but whoever denies that he has it from
this source either does not truly have it, or else "even
what he has will be taken away" (Matt. 25:29).

CANON 17. Concerning Christian courage.
The courage of the Gentiles is produced by simple greed, but
the courage of Christians by the love of God which "has
been poured into our hearts" not by freedom of will from
our own side but "through the Holy Spirit which has been
given to us" (Rom. 5:5).

CANON 18. That grace is not preceded
by merit. Recompense is due to good works if they are performed;
but grace, to which we have no claim, precedes them, to enable
them to be done.

CANON 19. That a man can be saved
only when God shows mercy. Human nature, even though it remained
in that sound state in which it was created, could be no means
save itself, without the assistance of the Creator; hence since
man cannot safe- guard his salvation without the grace of God,
which is a gift, how will he be able to restore what he has
lost without the grace of God?

CANON 20. That a man can do no good
without God. God does much that is good in a man that the man
does not do; but a man does nothing good for which God is not
responsible, so as to let him do it.

CANON 21. Concerning nature and grace.
As the Apostle most truly says to those who would be justified
by the law and have fallen from grace, "If justification
were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose" (Gal.
2:21), so it is most truly declared to those who imagine that
grace, which faith in Christ advocates and lays hold of, is
nature: "If justification were through nature, then Christ
died to no purpose." Now there was indeed the law, but
it did not justify, and there was indeed nature, but it did
not justify. Not in vain did Christ therefore die, so that the
law might be fulfilled by him who said, "I have come not
to abolish them [the law and prophets] but to fulfil them"
(Matt. 5:17), and that the nature which had been destroyed by
Adam might be restored by him who said that he had come "to
seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).

CANON 22. Concerning those things
that belong to man. No man has anything of his own but untruth
and sin. But if a man has any truth or righteousness, it from
that fountain for which we must thirst in this desert, so that
we may be refreshed from it as by drops of water and not faint
on the way.

CANON 23. Concerning the will of God
and of man. Men do their own will and not the will of God when
they do what displeases him; but when they follow their own
will and comply with the will of God, however willingly they
do so, yet it is his will by which what they will is both prepared
and instructed.

CANON 24. Concerning the branches
of the vine. The branches on the vine do not give life to the
vine, but receive life from it; thus the vine is related to
its branches in such a way that it supplies them with what they
need to live, and does not take this from them. Thus it is to
the advantage of the disciples, not Christ, both to have Christ
abiding in them and to abide in Christ. For if the vine is cut
down another can shoot up from the live root; but one who is
cut off from the vine cannot live without the root (John 15:5ff).

CANON 25. Concerning the love with
which we love God. It is wholly a gift of God to love God. He
who loves, even though he is not loved, allowed himself to be
loved. We are loved, even when we displease him, so that we
might have means to please him. For the Spirit, whom we love
with the Father and the Son, has poured into our hearts the
love of the Father and the Son (Rom. 5:5).

CONCLUSION. And thus according to
the passages of holy scripture quoted above or the interpretations
of the ancient Fathers we must, under the blessing of God, preach
and believe as follows. The sin of the first man has so impaired
and weakened free will that no one thereafter can either love
God as he ought or believe in God or do good for God's sake,
unless the grace of divine mercy has preceded him. We therefore
believe that the glorious faith which was given to Abel the
righteous, and Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and
to all the saints of old, and which the Apostle Paul [sic] commends
in extolling them (Heb. 11), was not given through natural goodness
as it was before to Adam, but was bestowed by the grace of God.
And we know and also believe that even after the coming of our
Lord this grace is not to be found in the free will of all who
desire to be baptized, but is bestowed by the kindness of Christ,
as has already been frequently stated and as the Apostle Paul
declares, "For it has been granted to you that for the
sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer
for his sake" (Phil. 1:29). And again, "He who began
a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of
Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). And again, "For by grace
you have been saved through faith; and it is not your own doing,
it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). And as the Apostle says
of himself, "I have obtained mercy to be faithful"
(1 Cor. 7:25, cf. 1 Tim. 1:13). He did not say, "because
I was faithful," but "to be faithful." And again,
"What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor.
4:7). And again, "Every good endowment and every perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights"
(Jas. 1:17). And again, "No one can receive anything except
what is given him from heaven" (John 3:27). There are innumerable
passages of holy scripture which can be quoted to prove the
case for grace, but they have been omitted for the sake of brevity,
because further examples will not really be of use where few
are deemed sufficient.

According to the catholic faith we also believe
that after grace has been received through baptism, all baptized
persons have the ability and responsibility, if they desire
to labor faithfully, to perform with the aid and cooperation
of Christ what is of essential importance in regard to the salvation
of their soul. We not only do not believe that any are foreordained
to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence
that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing,
they are anathema. We also believe and confess to our benefit
that in every good work it is not we who take the initiative
and are then assisted through the mercy of God, but God himself
first inspires in us both faith in him and love for him without
any previous good works of our own that deserve reward, so that
we may both faithfully seek the sacrament of baptism, and after
baptism be able by his help to do what is pleasing to him. We
must therefore most evidently believe that the praiseworthy
faith of the thief whom the Lord called to his home in paradise,
and of Cornelius the centurion, to whom the angel of the Lord
was sent, and of Zacchaeus, who was worthy to receive the Lord
himself, was not a natural endowment but a gift of God's kindness.